Late At Night
by ELfict
Summary: This time, things were different.


**A/N: I wrote this story with three random words: crayons, coat and groceries. This is the result. **

**Late At Night  
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"Daddy, look!" A young Alexis excitedly held up a drawing for her dad to see.

He barely looked up from his computer screen as he continued typing away on his laptop. "That's really pretty, honey." He mumbled absently without really looking at his daughter's drawing.

Alexis' shoulders slumped disappointedly. She knew her dad had been busy lately, but she had made this drawing especially for him. Silently she left the study and returned to her room, putting her drawing down next to the crayons on her small desk.

Later, when she went downstairs again, he was still writing.

He had been doing that a lot lately. Writing. She sighed and stood outside his study for a while, watching the shadow of his hands move on the wall, swiftly touching the keys of his keyboard. His fingers moved without hesitation and when, after a while, she never saw him pause, she decided it would be better not to disturb him.

That evening, for the first time in a long time, she went to bed without telling him goodnight.

As she lay in her bed, thoughts of her father still played through her mind.

Usually he wasn't this distant. Even when it had snowed yesterday, he barely left his study. Alexis had gone to a friend to make a snowman instead of making one with her dad, like she normally would have.

She was pretty sure all of this had something to do with her mom. Her parents had a big fight a couple of night ago, and she hadn't been home after that. It wasn't anything new – the fighting. But usually, her mom would come back the next day, unless she had to fly somewhere for her work.

She had kept her mouth shut, the memory of previous conversations etched in her mind. Whenever she mentioned anything about a fight he and her mom had had, he got this sad look in his eyes. No matter how hard he tried not to show it, she could see how much it hurt him. So she refrained from ever bringing the subject up.

Sometimes, late at night, she pretended not to hear the raised voices coming from downstairs.

The fights never lasted long. Usually, the next morning, her dad would be in his study. When he'd notice that she was downstairs, he would make her breakfast and bring her to school like every other day. Except it wouldn't be the same. He tried, but there was always a certain tension surrounding him.

The day before yesterday, he hadn't left his study to make her breakfast. Only when she had entered his study to remind him of the time, he had hurriedly gotten up and brought her to school.

This time, things were different.

Alexis sighed as she sat up and looked over to her desk, where her drawing was still laying. It was a drawing of them. She, her dad and her mom. Since her dad was always sad whenever her mom was gone, she figured he would like this drawing of them together. Now she didn't know what to think anymore.

Sighing, she laid back and pulled her blanket a little tighter around her. Her bed was warm and soft, but it still didn't feel right. Closing her eyes, she tried to fall asleep. She turned around. And then turned back again. After a long time of twisting and turning in her bed, she decided she really couldn't sleep.

She got out of bed and walked to her door.

She felt restless, tired, and upset. She clutched monkey bunkey in her hand and softly she treaded down the stairs, until she was standing in front of the door to her dad's study. There, she hesitated, not sure whether she should just go in or not. Something inside her stomach seemed to twist uncomfortably. She made her decision, slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open.

"Dad?" Her voice sounded small as she stood in the doorway.

Something about his daughter's voice alerted him, making his fingers hover over his keyboard, pausing. He looked up to see his daughter watching him, looking more small and lost than ever. Instantly his expression softened, and he felt a pang of guilt realizing how closed off he'd been the last couple of days. "Hey sweetie, what's wrong?"

Realizing she now had her dad's full attention, she carefully walked over to his desk.

"Dad, is…" She paused and frowned thoughtfully. "When is mom coming back?"

As he looked down at his little girl, he was torn. He had always sworn he'd tell her the truth, no matter how hard it might be. But the last thing he wanted was to see her hurt. "Come here." He said, and patted on his leg.

Alexis walked over to him and crawled up on his lap. Once she sat, she stared up at him with her big, questioning, blue eyes.

He swallowed, trying to get the lump out of his throat. "I – " He felt the sadness of the past couple of days pressing down on him, making his chest ache painfully. He didn't want to have to do this to Alexis. "I'm afraid she isn't coming back, sweetie." He admitted softly, almost afraid of meeting her eyes.

It was silent for a moment. Then Alexis let out a little sniff. Her left hand clutched his arm, and her right one was tightly wrapped around her monkey. "Never?" Came her tiny voice suddenly.

"Oh no, of course she will come to see you." He quickly assured her as he subconsciously pulled her a little closer to him, filled with the need to protect her from all the hurt in the world. "She would never, ever forget you, do you hear me?" He asked, wanting to make sure she realized her mother still loved her.

She nodded silently against his chest and he softly pressed a kiss against her hair.

There was a long silence before Alexis gathered up the courage to ask, "It is because you fight a lot?"

He had expected questions, but not this one. It took him somewhat by surprise, and he took a sharp breath as he tried to gather his thoughts before he spoke again. "We – yes." His usual way with words seemed to fail him. They fought. She had cheated on him, too. But there was no possible way he could tell Alexis that without keeping the hurt or anger from his voice. "She just won't be living with us anymore." He said instead, his voice low, soothing, in some crazy hope that this would make the truth less hard.

Alexis nodded thoughtfully. For a brief moment, her mind went to her drawing. The drawing of _them. _That's when everything slowly started getting through to her. A single tear slid down her cheek, and before more could follow she buried her face in his shirt, her small arms holding him close.

They sat like that for a while. He rubbed comforting circles on her back and whispered soothingly in her ear, while leaned against him, her little shoulders shaking slightly as silent tears rolled down her cheek, while she occasionally let out a little sniff.

He'd give anything to make his daughter feel better. Honestly, he couldn't stand the idea of her ever being hurt, let alone while she was this young. She shouldn't have to worry about any of this yet.

After a while she leaned back and gently wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Her breath was still somewhat unsteady as she looked down at her hands and fumbled with her stuffed animal. "I made a snowman yesterday." She said quietly.

"You did?" He asked, feeling another wave of guilt hit him. They usually did that together, but now he'd been too busy feeling sorry for himself and trying to drown in his own writing. He should never let something come between him and Alexis again.

"Yes, I went to Paige's house, remember?" She asked him.

Vaguely he could recall her asking him if it was alright if Paige's mom came by to pick her up. Though he wasn't even sure about that either. But he nodded anyway. "So, was it a nice snowman?"

Alexis seemed to think about that for a little while. "It was, but ours last year was way more awesome." She didn't quite smile, but he could see a little of the sparkle he was used to coming back to her eyes.

The corners of his own mouth turned up slightly, a feeling slightly foreign to him after the last couple of days. "Well, it's hard to beat that one, Mr. White was a pretty great snowman."

Now he caught it. Her smile. It was only for a brief moment, but it was there, he was sure of it. Now he wanted to see it again.

"Come on." He said, and she slid off his lap so he could get up. "I've got an idea."

He got her coat and handed it to her, after which he put on his own coat. After wrapping a scarf around her neck, he walked to the door.

"Where are we going?" She asked, suddenly very interested.

He just smiled. "You'll see."

"Daaad." She almost whined. She never particularly liked it when he wouldn't tell her things.

"Let's go." He replied, and she followed him after sighing loudly, obviously for his benefit. Soon she caught up and walked next to him, just as they made their way to the elevator.

Together they went outside, as he held her hand is his. They just walked about two blocks, where they went into a little 24-hour grocery store.

"We're going to do groceries?" Alexis looked up at him, confused.

"I'm just going to get a couple of things." He told her. They walked down a couple of aisles as he occasionally grabbed some things from the shelves.

They went through the store pretty quickly, and after he paid, they left again.

When they got back outside again, it was snowing. Thick, woolly flakes were drifting down from the sky, slowly covering the city in white. Their breaths came out in little clouds of steam because of the cold.

Alexis smiled and opened her mouth, trying to catch one of the snowflakes with her tongue.

He laughed, and not much later he leaned down to gather some snow in his hands, pressing it together to make a snowball.

The managed to get home through a semi-snowball fight, both of them occasionally scooping up some fresh snow from the ground to make a snowball to throw at the other.

When they get back inside the loft, their cheeks were rosy from the cold and little melting pieces of snow clung to their hair.

Alexis quickly got settled on the couch. He put on her favorite DVD, before going into the kitchen, getting some things out of the bag he'd put on the counter and rummaging through some cupboards.

Not much later he entered the living room carrying two mugs of hot chocolate, a couple of tiny marshmallows on top, just the way Alexis liked it.

What he saw, though, made him see that maybe hot chocolate wasn't the best idea at this time of night. Alexis was lying on the couch, her eyes closed, her mouth hanging slightly open. She looked adorable, but he realized how exhausted she must be.

After putting down the mugs he was carrying, he gently scooped her up in his arms, careful not to wake her. He walked to his own bedroom, where he pulled the blanket aside and put her down.

After placing a kiss on her forehead, he tucked her in, and quickly went back to the living room to get her monkey, too.

Soon, he joined her, and for a while he just watched her sleep, the slow rising and falling of her chest calming him. She would occasionally let out a little snort, or move one of her hands.

Watching her made his personal troubles slowly fade to the back of his mind, until his world seemed solely focused on her, her barely noticeable movement and the soft sounds she made.

Reaching out, he tucked a loose strand of her behind her ear and smiled.

Just as he started to drift off to sleep, he realized something. No matter what happened, everything would eventually be okay. As long as he had Alexis.

_XXXX_

_I'm gonna love you  
>'Til the world ends<br>And I'm gonna hold you  
>'Til the world ends<em>

'Til the World Ends – Andy Brown

_XXXX_

**A/N: I know that maybe Alexis' age might not be entirely accurate, but I pretended for the sake of this story that it is.  
>Thanks for reading. :) Thoughts?<strong>

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